BT Sport has made another statement of intent in taking on Sky in the Premium Sports TV market through signing Tottenham’s Gareth Bale as a brand ambassador.
The player will feature in TV advertising for the new channels launching in July alongside Olympic medal Triathletes the Brownlee Brothers, Rugby commentatotr Lawrence Dallaglio and others.
He will also be a regular guest in studio as an analyst on games.  Tottenham fans will take comfort from the deal as BT Sport does not have the rights to show games from the Spanish Liga where Real Madrid are continually rumoured to be preparing a bid. for the player.
Generally in TV contracts the broadcaster will have the right to use players from different teams in the promotion of their programming.  This is the case in Gaelic Games, Soccer and Rugby in Ireland where trailers for forthcoming matches will often focus on games of the recent past featuring a variety of players and teams.
It is unusual for an individual player to sign as an ambassador as this may prevent other media outlets using him as much as they would.
This is especially true in the case of a rival to Sky TV where there is so much cross media ownership in the UK and so many of the best selling newspapers tied in same ownership.
“I am excited about the launch of BT Sport and I am happy to play my part in making it a big hit,” said Bale at the announcement of the three year deal.
BT will show 38 live Premier League games, as well as top tier matches from Serie A in Italy, Lique 1 in France, Brasileiro in Brazil and Major League Soccer in the USA.
 
And the station’s buying out of ESPN’s TV channels business in the UK and Ireland gives it additional rights to show live games from the FA Cup, Scottish Premier League, Europa League and the German Bundesliga.
BT Sport will also show up to 69 live rugby union games a season from the Aviva Premiership, and agreement has yet to be reached on a possible broadcast deal involving European Rugby in a possible successor to the Heineken Cup.
In addition, BT has signed a deal with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) to show up to 800 hours of live tennis from around the world.
No pricing package for customers in Ireland has yet been agreed but BT will be breaking with another traditional approach by employing its own sales team and channels as opposed to relying on Sky’s dominant market position to sell its services as an add on.
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